“Even the State Government recognises that the Western Australian electricity market is too small for nuclear generators, and Rio Tinto is silent on the real-world consequences of bringing nuclear energy to WA.

“Those calling for nuclear power ignore the reality of what is happening around the world: every year for the last 15 years the growth in renewable energy’s capacity has outstripped the growth in nuclear capacity, and last year investment in renewable energy over-took investment in nuclear and fossil-fuelled energy combined.

“Because Rio Tinto doesn’t own the sun, there’s an institutional blindness to any form of energy generation that doesn’t involve digging something up, selling it and burning it. History is moving on and so should Rio Tinto.

“In the United States of America – the world’s largest economy – the share of renewables in new capacity additions boomed from two percent in 2004 to 55 percent in 2009, with no new nuclear capacity whatsoever added in that time.